Special Report: 10.17.2009

Posted by TED Magazine on Friday, October 16, 2009

SOLAR DECATHLON -- LIGHTING LECTURE

I listened. I learned. I got wet. I froze. I LEFT.

By Joe Salimando 

Somehow, I don't think the government officials who hatched the idea of the Solar Decathlon  had rain, rain, and more rain in mind, accompanied by temperatures of 46 degrees (F). But that's what I found on Thur., Oct. 15th, when I showed up to tour some of the 20 solar houses and listen to a presentation from Mark Phillips of Juno Lighting (unit, Schneider). His title is "director of affiliate sales, energy efficiency."

My plan was flawless. I needed to be downtown for the McGraw-Hill Construction forecast event; I wanted to catch the first serious speaker at 1:15. I went downtown in the morning. Philips was talking at 11; I could then spend 90 minutes, maybe, touring a few of the houses.

Brilliant. Instead, I saw one house. I got soaking wet (my umbrella broke), dressed in a suit. I stood in two lines in the rain to see houses. I got a sore throat. And during Phillips' talk -- and what kind of name is PHILLIPS for a lighting guy, anyway? -- I actually saw my breath a few times. See the photo below, taken during his talk, of a young woman who may or may not have been very attractive; she looked as if she were attending a Green Bay Packers game in December, rather than a lighting talk at a solar event!

I'm not sure you can see the guy to her right, with the hat, doing his "Nanook of the North" impression. Yes, we are in a tent. Yes, the tent was unheated. I've never previously been this cold while dressed in a suit and taking notes.

The things I do for the electrical industry!

What Juno's Phillips Had To Say

Mark's presentation was pretty interesting. He didn't attract too many people on what was, ostensibly, "Building Industry Day." There were other speakers scheduled representing AIA, ASHRAE, BP, and Honeywell. No, I didn't stay to hear/see them.

His topic was lighting, specifically LEDs and CFLs. He provided some perspective on self-ballasted screw-based CFLs (he doesn't like them). He talked a bit about the reality of LEDs (they are damn expensive right now). He discussed CALiPER  and the testing that's revealing which claims in the LED business are bogus and which (few) are not.

Five things of note here:

1. Mark spoke about the fact that some Chinese products are being imported into the U.S. that enable people to turn GU-24 fixtures into things that will accommodate screw-base light bulbs. This means the GU-24 fixture, meant only to accommodate a CFL, can (with the homeowner's retrofit of this thing) now take a screw-in incandescent bulb.

To me, this was great news. I plan to retire some day. I plan to do a lot of reading (I have maybe 3 years' worth of books sitting in front of me here in my office). I want to read using daylight or incandescent light; I don't want to read under CFLs. I have this nightmarish vision: I move into a newly built house in a retirement community, and all I can use is CFLs. Phooey!

Mark's remark in his presentation on this was fairly brief, so I questioned him afterwards. He noted that the Chinese products that enable you to convert a GU-24 fixture to one that accommodates a screw-base are (a) not UL-listed, (b) not sold by reputable retailers, and (c) mostly available on the Internet. A guy standing next to him (NOT the guy in the photo) -- who told me he works for an EPA contractor -- said that California either had or would soon outlaw these things.

Double phooey.

I wasn't planning to retire to California anyway. But the guy's claim made me think of old folks being hassled about what kind of lighting they are using in the future -- arrested because of stockpiling incandescents and avoidance of GU-24 fixtures. Isn't it enough that I pay my damn taxes?

2. Below, find a photo of Mark writing something for an attendee. I am not a very good photographer, but digital cameras should improve my limited skills. The lighting in the tent (really, it was a tent) and the sharp contrast between the darkness in the room and Mark's face when photographed against the background of the brightly lit presentation screen made MUD out of the rest of the photos I took.

3. I really liked the advice Mark gave on installing halogen lighting: Wrap your fingers in saran wrap when installing a bulb, so oils from your fingers don't get on the damn thing and shorten its useful life. Mark later told me that the alternative was to use surgical gloves! I plan to look at the packaging to see if this is a standard instruction that comes with these things. 

4. I sat thru the end of the ASHRAE guy's lecture. He was very intelligent, and of German extraction (I think). He had a much bigger crowd -- of people from the general public, as did Mark. BUT: He got a lot fewer questions than Mark did. This isn't evidence of anything; as we're talking about maybe 35 people who came out on a cold, rainy day and sat in freezing temperatures -- in a tent -- to listen to a lecture about lighting.

However, it was encouraging to hear non-professionals ask intelligent questions about lighting!

5. Mark noted that LED manufacturers make general claims for their products, but can't specify how many hours you'll get in actual use. Why is that? Use varies and -- especially -- different fixture manufacturers have different approaches (Juno isn't like Cooper, which isn't like Lithonia). The most important issue is getting rid of the heat coming out of the back end of the LED, Mark said.

I think I have this right: In one application, he said, Juno was going to make a 4-watt and a 6-watt version of an LED fixture for a specific application. After actually experimenting with the product, the company found that the 6W version was much too hot . . . if you touched the damn thing the wrong way, you'd burn your hand. So the company isn't rolling out the 6W thing!

Solar Flop

My attempt to see the 20 houses in the solar decathlon was a horrible flop. My umbrella broke. I got soaking wet (I was in a suit). The sitch was miserable. It was cold. The picture below, taken from the outer tent where the presentations were given, may give you an idea of the not-exactly-sunny conditions.

Yes, that phallic symbol in the distance really IS the Washington Monument. The Decathlon was set up on the National Mall.

My experience contrasted sharply with my optimism going to the event. As I drove up, I passed an electronic sign congratulating the Minnesota team for winning the Lighting competition. Hey, I was in the right place!

I ended up touring the Wisconsin house (why? it had the shortest line). I wasn't impressed (I'm sorry). I spoke briefly to one of the college kids manning the thing -- how, I asked, did Minnesota win the Lighting deal? They had all kinds of great stuff, he said, including lighting controls. I didn't understand; wasn't there a $ limit to how much one could spend, to level the competition?

No.

Here's a picture I took of a solar house while standing in line. I intended to take a lot more photos (there were 20 houses!!!) -- but I wimped out. I don't like being wet when it's cold. I like to go to the beach in the summer and wade in the Atlantic Ocean!

To the eternal credit of the (mostly young) people who showed up on this miserable day, there were lines at every one of the houses (I at least walked past all 20 of them). The lines developed, of course, because it takes time to tour a solar house (especially if you ask a question or two, which you should!).

That's right, people on line, freezing (many bouncing up and down), being rained on. I'm not sure you can focus on the detail in the photo above, but many of these people had neither slickers nor umbrellas. In the brief time I was on the line of a 2nd house, the guy in front of me stood, in the cold rain, hatless, with no umbrella -- getting soaking wet. I guess he was really into solar.

I would like to have been . .